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Lisa Woodward’s curiosity, persistence and self-confidence have led to her success as a full-time artist after a first career in international development. Lisa’s obsession with footpaths comes from her strong connections with the semi-wilderness of Ontario, and the rural landscapes of Ireland, India and Jordan, whose geographies and peoples have influenced her work and led her to an enduring captivation with abstract landscapes. Lisa says: “Land and people inspire my work. I am fascinated with the ways we leave traces of our activity on rural lands – the paths, fences, fields – while the land in turn shapes us. Conversations about people’s local histories, their families and their work contribute to what I see in the land, what I remember about it, and how I choose to paint it.” Lisa shares a hot tip about using your sketchbook to analyze artwork and the advantages of starting an art career later in life!
Takeaways
1. You don’t have to make anything, you can just explore. And if meaning comes out of that, great, but it doesn’t have to.
2. We need to forgive ourselves for not being other artists than who we are. Who we are in the rest of our lives is going to come out in our work. It comes from who we are and we can’t change that. When we make art, we are who we are.
3. Don’t despair if your art doesn’t sell. Alice Sheridan said that sometimes you need to hold on to your art because you’re not finished learning from it
4. When you become an artist later in life, you’re not starting from zero. You have a huge resource of experience, confidence and self-knowledge that gives you a head start and lets you develop a clear voice and style more quickly and more surely.
5. “You miss one hundred percent of the shots you don't take.” Wayne Gretzky
Mentioned
A Glorious Freedom: Older Women Leading Extraordinary Lives, by Lisa Congdon
On Trails, An Exploration, by Robert Moor
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